Valerie Bertinelli has made it clear that romance is not on her radar at the moment. The actress, 66, candidly discussed her current relationship status during a red carpet appearance at the North Hollywood screening of her new film Love, Again on Thursday, April 30, at the Television Academy's Saban Media Center.
Speaking with Pause Rewind on the event's red carpet, Bertinelli offered a straightforward assessment of her love life. "2024 sucked the life out of me," she stated, referencing her November 2024 separation from ex-boyfriend Mike Goodnough. "I sleep with a black cat. That tells you everything you need to know about me and I love that furry little 11 lbs."
The actress elaborated that she responds with a firm "Hell, no" when asked about dating prospects, emphasizing that "Batman," her cat, provides all the companionship she currently desires. This declaration underscores a period of intentional solitude following what appears to have been an emotionally draining year.
Bertinelli's comments arrive in the wake of her recent memoir, Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect, released in March. In the book, she explored her complex romantic history, including her enduring affection for late ex-husband Eddie Van Halen. The couple married in 1981 and separated in 2001, with their divorce finalized six years later. Van Halen passed away in 2020 at the age of 65.
Reflecting on that relationship, the Food Network star wrote with notable tenderness. "We hurt each other's feelings, but we always tried to do the right thing," she said of her marriage to the musician, with whom she shares son Wolfgang Van Halen, born in 1991. "Even when we were angry, we stayed loving. It changed, evolved, and grew back different but stronger than it had been at the beginning of our relationship. It healed us."
Following her divorce from Eddie, Bertinelli married Tom Vitale in 2011. That union lasted a decade before she filed for separation in 2021. She subsequently began dating Goodnough in March 2024, though that relationship ended by November of the same year.
In her memoir, Bertinelli acknowledged her struggles with romantic relationships. "Romance has never been easy for me, never even sane," she wrote. "It's a messy math equation — love, marriage, divorce — and I'm terrible at math. Worse at marriage." She confessed that she "couldn't crack the code of lasting love" over the years.
The actress also noted a stark contrast between her two marriages, particularly in how they ended. "How could I have continued to feel love for Ed after our divorce but have no feelings — neither good nor bad — for my second husband after fifteen years of togetherness?" she questioned in the memoir. "Hopefully that will change over time. I can already feel myself softening. I've reached a point of indifference and grace, which is so much healthier than hanging on to anger."
For now, Bertinelli appears content with her decision to step back from the dating world and focus on personal healing. Her candid remarks suggest a woman prioritizing self-care and emotional recovery over the pursuit of new romance, finding comfort instead in the uncomplicated companionship of her 11-pound feline friend.